"Monstrosity" lawmaker pay bill headed to conference

View full sizeA bill called a "monstrosity" by one leigslator is headed to a conference committee to work out the kinks. (File)

MONTGOMERY, Alabama -- A heavily amended version of a legislative pay bill will end up going to conference committee after a legislative leader
derided it as a "monstrosity."

The House of Representatives voted 77-8 this morning to non-concur
with Senate changes to the bill and send it to conference committee.

The proposed constitutional amendment would tie
legislator pay to the median household income in Alabama and prohibit
legislators from raising their own pay without a vote of the public. Lawmakers would also get mileage and expenses.

Senators on Tuesday tacked on multiple amendments including
that a controversial 2007 pay raise would go away immediately and that
legislators would forfeit all pay anytime the state's unemployment rate was
above 5.2 percent. Another amendment would dictate that lawmakers would have to
give back the 2007 pay raise if they took it.

Some senators said they weren't sure that all of the changes
are constitutional.